REVIEWS
Ulf Beijbom. AUSTRALIENFARARNA: VÅRT MÄRKLI­GASTE
UTVANDRINGSÄVENTYR. Stockholm: LTs förlag,
1983, 287 pp.
In January 1984, a book was reviewed in the QUARTERLY on the
history of the Swedish church in Melbourne, Australia. Now
comes a second study of the Swedes down under by Ulf Beij­bom,
noted historian and director of the Emigrant Institute in
Växjö. A u s t r a l i e n f a r a r n a is to date the most complete published
historical study of Swedes in Australia from the earliest days of
European colonization to the present. Nearly fifty years ago,
Jens Lyng, a Dane residing in Melbourne, wrote S c a n d i n a v i a n s
i n A u s t r a l i a , N e w Z e a l a n d , and t h e W e s t e r n P a c i f i c , but that
book has needed updating. Jens emphasized the Danes and
other Scandinavians who settled in urban areas including Mel­bourne,
Sydney, and Brisbane, with little attention to their rural
counterparts. A decade ago, a dissertation on pre-World War II
Scandinavians in Australia was completed. But until Beijbom's
study, no general work has described Swedish emigration to
post-World War II Australia. Surprisingly, the largest number of
Swedish emigration to Australia has occurred after 1945, partic­ularly
during the 1970s. Since an estimated 25,000 Swedes have
settled in Australia from the first known emigrant in 1830, this
population movement has by no means been inconsequential.
Beijbom is a social historian and a meticulous researcher not
only in this work but also in previous ones including Swedes in
Chicago (1971). The story of the Australian Swedes has involved
the careful reading of both published and unpublished emigrant
accounts. In the foreword, Beijbom notes that in 1972 he discov­ered
at the Emigrant Institute that "some of our foremost emi­grant
diaries had come from Australia." The author acknowl­edges
people both in Australia and Scandinavia who have
helped in this project including his colleague Sten Almqvist,
who began collecting the materials.
A large part of the study describes Swedes in non-urban set­tings,
including golddiggers, sheepherders, and farmers. A l ­though
the author had access to a number of unpublished diaries
145
and letters by golddiggers, relatively few were found for agri­cultural
people. Thus the author had to rely on general Australian
history to fill in the gaps, and his account is not solely of Swedes
in Australian history.
The book is divided into eight chapters on subjects related to
the earliest colonizers, gold fever in the 1850s, the conquest of
the Outback, settlement schemes in Queensland and western
Australia, Swedes in Melbourne and Sydney, and emigration
since World War II. The author tells us that Swedish emigrant
groups began leaving for Australia almost at the same time Gus­taf
Unonius journeyed to Wisconsin (1841). Queensland in
northeast Australia attracted more Swedes prior to 1891 than any
other state (although New South Wales and Victoria were close
behind) mainly because that state deliberately publicized its
economic opportunities in northern Europe.
Through published and unpublished accounts, the emigrants
told of a variety of hardships including droughts, bush fires,
storms, pestilence, broken dreams, loneliness and separation,
and periodic economic depressions. Beijbom succeeds in dra­matically
describing these conditions as well as capturing the
emigrants' general mood. The melancholy of Australian letters
is in contrast to the more optimistic tone of many American
epistles. On several occasions, the author makes additional
comparisons between the Australian and American immigrants.
The former were more predominantly rural than the latter. Fur­thermore,
the majority of early Swedes to Australia were single
men. Subsequent marriages with non-Swedes resulted in the
rapid breakdown of strong attachments to the native land. Chil­dren,
for example, frequently knew little of their Swedish roots.
The author of this review observes that during the same time a
similar rapid assimilation took place with Scandinavians in
South Africa.
Certain key Swedes stand out in Beijbom's study either for
their achievements (e.g., Daniel Solander and Anders Sparrman
were Carl von Linne's researchers; Rev. Pehr Pehrsson Wide-man
conducted the first Swedish service in Australia; Birger
Mörner was Sweden's first consul-general in Sydney—he also
sought ways to increase trade between Sweden and Australia;
Magnus Lagerlöf was an outstanding Swedish-born composer;
and businessman Gustaf Mauritz Lindergren was the best
known Swede in Sydney prior to his death in 1981) or for the
146
author's extensive use of their published or unpublished mate­rials.
A u s t r a l i e n f a r a r n a is well illustrated with unique photo­graphs
and interesting sketches by Per Wilhelm Bergelin, an
early pioneer. The end notes include a variety of sources the
author used in each chapter. There is also an adequate index
listing persons, enterprises, associations, and ship and place-names.
As the subtitle indicates, the study is an emigration adventure.
Beijbom has taken an extensive topic with limited source mate­rials
and has successfully written a fascinating book on a little
known immigrant group. The study is well worth reading and
should be translated into English for a wider audience to enjoy.
Not only does one learn about the rather extensive accomplish­ments
of Swedish Australians, but also the growing pains of a
young nation and its settlers struggling to tame the land and to
develop into a prosperous modern society.
A L A N H . WINQUIST
T a y l o r U n i v e r s i t y
THE DREAM OF AMERICA. 7 vols. Translated and edited by
J. R. Christianson and Birgitte Christianson. Mankato, Minne­sota:
Creative Education, Inc., 1982.
The seven titles in this series are Sven Skovmand's E u r o pe
and the F l i g h t t o A m e r i c a ; Skovmand's A m e r i c a Fever; Kristian
Hvidt's The W e s t w a r d Journey; Bent Evold's They Came to
A m e r i c a ; Erik V. Krustrup's G a t e w a y to A m e r i c a : N e w Y o r k
C i t y ; Søren Koustrup's Shattered D r e a m s : Joe H i l l ; and Kous¬
trup's I r e l a n d i n F l i g h t .
These small books, originally written for Danish school chil­dren,
have been beautifully translated by John and Birgitte
Christianson. In length they run from sixty to 100 pages each,
and about half of the space is devoted to pictures—well-chosen
human interest illustrations of families, farms, factories, ships,
carriages, homes, schools, churches, cities, lumber camps, car­toons,
maps, and so forth. The texts are written by scholars who
appreciate the significance and the drama of the vast human
migration of the nineteenth century, who understand the back­ground
of life in Europe and the general conditions in America.
Danish subject matter is most prominent, but there is frequent
147

Click tabs to swap between content that is broken into logical sections.

All rights held by the Swedish-American Historical Society. No part of this publication, except in the case of brief quotations, may be reproduced in any manner without the written permission of the editor and, where appropriate, the original author(s). For more information, please email the Society at info@swedishamericanhist.org

REVIEWS
Ulf Beijbom. AUSTRALIENFARARNA: VÅRT MÄRKLI­GASTE
UTVANDRINGSÄVENTYR. Stockholm: LTs förlag,
1983, 287 pp.
In January 1984, a book was reviewed in the QUARTERLY on the
history of the Swedish church in Melbourne, Australia. Now
comes a second study of the Swedes down under by Ulf Beij­bom,
noted historian and director of the Emigrant Institute in
Växjö. A u s t r a l i e n f a r a r n a is to date the most complete published
historical study of Swedes in Australia from the earliest days of
European colonization to the present. Nearly fifty years ago,
Jens Lyng, a Dane residing in Melbourne, wrote S c a n d i n a v i a n s
i n A u s t r a l i a , N e w Z e a l a n d , and t h e W e s t e r n P a c i f i c , but that
book has needed updating. Jens emphasized the Danes and
other Scandinavians who settled in urban areas including Mel­bourne,
Sydney, and Brisbane, with little attention to their rural
counterparts. A decade ago, a dissertation on pre-World War II
Scandinavians in Australia was completed. But until Beijbom's
study, no general work has described Swedish emigration to
post-World War II Australia. Surprisingly, the largest number of
Swedish emigration to Australia has occurred after 1945, partic­ularly
during the 1970s. Since an estimated 25,000 Swedes have
settled in Australia from the first known emigrant in 1830, this
population movement has by no means been inconsequential.
Beijbom is a social historian and a meticulous researcher not
only in this work but also in previous ones including Swedes in
Chicago (1971). The story of the Australian Swedes has involved
the careful reading of both published and unpublished emigrant
accounts. In the foreword, Beijbom notes that in 1972 he discov­ered
at the Emigrant Institute that "some of our foremost emi­grant
diaries had come from Australia." The author acknowl­edges
people both in Australia and Scandinavia who have
helped in this project including his colleague Sten Almqvist,
who began collecting the materials.
A large part of the study describes Swedes in non-urban set­tings,
including golddiggers, sheepherders, and farmers. A l ­though
the author had access to a number of unpublished diaries
145
and letters by golddiggers, relatively few were found for agri­cultural
people. Thus the author had to rely on general Australian
history to fill in the gaps, and his account is not solely of Swedes
in Australian history.
The book is divided into eight chapters on subjects related to
the earliest colonizers, gold fever in the 1850s, the conquest of
the Outback, settlement schemes in Queensland and western
Australia, Swedes in Melbourne and Sydney, and emigration
since World War II. The author tells us that Swedish emigrant
groups began leaving for Australia almost at the same time Gus­taf
Unonius journeyed to Wisconsin (1841). Queensland in
northeast Australia attracted more Swedes prior to 1891 than any
other state (although New South Wales and Victoria were close
behind) mainly because that state deliberately publicized its
economic opportunities in northern Europe.
Through published and unpublished accounts, the emigrants
told of a variety of hardships including droughts, bush fires,
storms, pestilence, broken dreams, loneliness and separation,
and periodic economic depressions. Beijbom succeeds in dra­matically
describing these conditions as well as capturing the
emigrants' general mood. The melancholy of Australian letters
is in contrast to the more optimistic tone of many American
epistles. On several occasions, the author makes additional
comparisons between the Australian and American immigrants.
The former were more predominantly rural than the latter. Fur­thermore,
the majority of early Swedes to Australia were single
men. Subsequent marriages with non-Swedes resulted in the
rapid breakdown of strong attachments to the native land. Chil­dren,
for example, frequently knew little of their Swedish roots.
The author of this review observes that during the same time a
similar rapid assimilation took place with Scandinavians in
South Africa.
Certain key Swedes stand out in Beijbom's study either for
their achievements (e.g., Daniel Solander and Anders Sparrman
were Carl von Linne's researchers; Rev. Pehr Pehrsson Wide-man
conducted the first Swedish service in Australia; Birger
Mörner was Sweden's first consul-general in Sydney—he also
sought ways to increase trade between Sweden and Australia;
Magnus Lagerlöf was an outstanding Swedish-born composer;
and businessman Gustaf Mauritz Lindergren was the best
known Swede in Sydney prior to his death in 1981) or for the
146
author's extensive use of their published or unpublished mate­rials.
A u s t r a l i e n f a r a r n a is well illustrated with unique photo­graphs
and interesting sketches by Per Wilhelm Bergelin, an
early pioneer. The end notes include a variety of sources the
author used in each chapter. There is also an adequate index
listing persons, enterprises, associations, and ship and place-names.
As the subtitle indicates, the study is an emigration adventure.
Beijbom has taken an extensive topic with limited source mate­rials
and has successfully written a fascinating book on a little
known immigrant group. The study is well worth reading and
should be translated into English for a wider audience to enjoy.
Not only does one learn about the rather extensive accomplish­ments
of Swedish Australians, but also the growing pains of a
young nation and its settlers struggling to tame the land and to
develop into a prosperous modern society.
A L A N H . WINQUIST
T a y l o r U n i v e r s i t y
THE DREAM OF AMERICA. 7 vols. Translated and edited by
J. R. Christianson and Birgitte Christianson. Mankato, Minne­sota:
Creative Education, Inc., 1982.
The seven titles in this series are Sven Skovmand's E u r o pe
and the F l i g h t t o A m e r i c a ; Skovmand's A m e r i c a Fever; Kristian
Hvidt's The W e s t w a r d Journey; Bent Evold's They Came to
A m e r i c a ; Erik V. Krustrup's G a t e w a y to A m e r i c a : N e w Y o r k
C i t y ; Søren Koustrup's Shattered D r e a m s : Joe H i l l ; and Kous¬
trup's I r e l a n d i n F l i g h t .
These small books, originally written for Danish school chil­dren,
have been beautifully translated by John and Birgitte
Christianson. In length they run from sixty to 100 pages each,
and about half of the space is devoted to pictures—well-chosen
human interest illustrations of families, farms, factories, ships,
carriages, homes, schools, churches, cities, lumber camps, car­toons,
maps, and so forth. The texts are written by scholars who
appreciate the significance and the drama of the vast human
migration of the nineteenth century, who understand the back­ground
of life in Europe and the general conditions in America.
Danish subject matter is most prominent, but there is frequent
147